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Character Generation

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Abilities:

In addition to the abilities listed in their species description and career, each PC also gains D6 additional abilities (determined using a D100) from the following chart appropriate to their career class (if the character has been forced to change career class on the Scholar careers table, count the final career class, rather than Scholar). No ability (with exceptions noted in the abilities lists) may be taken more than once, and duplicate rolls (including rolls of abilities already taken as part of a career) are wasted.

Military Abilities Table

Human	Mutant	Ogryn	Ratling	Beastman	Squat	Ability
01-02	-	01-02	01-05	01-03	01-02	Acute Hearing
03-05	-	03-05	06-08	04-06	03-05	Ambidextrous
06-07	-	06-10	09-13	07-11	06-07	Animal Care
08-10	-	-	14-18	12-14	08-10	Brewing
11-13	-	11-15	19-23	15-17	11-15	Consume Alcohol
14-18	-	16-17	24-28	18-20	16-20	Cook
19-21	-	-	29	-	21-25	Driver – player’s choice
22-23	-	18-19	30-34	21-23	26-27	Excellent Vision
24-26	-	20-29	35-36	24-28	-	Fleet of Foot
27-29	-	30-39	37	29-31	28-32	Force of Will
30-32	-	-	38-42	32-34	33-36	Gamble
33-35	-	-	43-44	35-37	37-41	Heraldry
36-37	-	-	45-49	38-40	-	Lightning Reflexes
38-39	-	-	50-51	-	42-44	Literacy – Basic
40-42	-	40-41	52-53	41-43	45-47	Musician – player’s choice
43	-	42	54	44	48	Pariah
44-45	-	43-47	55-56	45-46	49-53	Psychic Resistance
46-48	-	-	57-61	-	54-56	Quickload
49-50	-	-	62-63	47-49	57	Ride – player’s choice
51-53	-	48-50	64-68	50-52	58-60	Scale Sheer Surface
54	-	-	69	53	-	Sixth Sense
55-57	-	51	70-72	54-56	61-63	Speak Additional Dialect – player’s choice
58	-	-	73	-	64	Speak Alien Language – player’s choice
59-61	-	-	74-76	-	65-69	Specialist Weapon – player’s choice
62-64	-	52	77-81	57-59	70-74	Spot Traps
65-67	-	53	82-86	60	75-79	Storytelling
68-70	-	54-56	87-88	61-65	80-82	Strike to Injure
71-73	-	-	89-90	-	83-85	Strike to Stun
74-90	-	57-59	91-97	66-78	86-91	Swim
91	-	60	98	79-80	92	Untouchable
92-94	-	61-80	-	81-89		Very Resilient
95-97	-	81-00	-	90-98	93-97	Very Strong
98	-	-	99	99-00	-	Wyrd
99-00	-	-	00	-	98-00	Xenology

Freelancer Abilities Table

Human	Mutant	Ogryn	Ratling	Beastman	Squat	Ability
01-02	01-02	-	-	01-03	-	Acrobatic
03-04	03-04	01-02	01-05	04-06	01-02	Acute Hearing
05-07	05-07	03-05	06-08	07-09	03-05	Ambidextrous
08-09	08-10	06-10	09-11	10-14	06-07	Animal Care
10-11	11-12	11-15	12-14	15-18	08-09	Animal Training
12-13	13-14	-	15-16	19-22	10	Blademaster
14-16	15-17	16-18	17-19	23-25	11-13	Brewing
17-19	18-19	19-21	20-22	26	14-15	Bribery
20-21	20-21	22-23	23	27-29	16-17	Catfall
22-23	22-23	24-33	24	30-34	18-20	Combat Master
24-26	24-26	34-43	25-29	35-37	21-25	Consume Alcohol
27-31	27-31	44-45	30-34	38-40	26-30	Cook
32-34	32-33	46-48	35	41-43	31-33	Disarm
35-36	34	-	36	-	34-38	Driver – player's choice
37-38	35-36	49-50	37-41	44-46	39-40	Excellent Vision
39-40	37-38	-	42-44	-	41	Fast Draw
41-42	39-40	-	45	47-49	42-43	First Strike
43-45	41-45	-	46-47	50-54	44	Flee
46-47	46-47	51-60	48-49	55-59	-	Fleet of Foot
48-50	48-50	-	50-53	60-62	45-48	Gamble
51-52	51-52	61-62	54-55	-	49-51	Gunfighter
53-55	53-54	-	56-59	63-64	52-54	Haggle
56-58	55-57	63-72	-	65-69	55-57	Head Butt
59-60	58-59	73-77	60	-	58	Hipshooting
61-62	60-61	78-87	61	70-74	59-61	Intimidate
63-65	62-64	-	62-63	75-77	62-64	Leader
66-67	65-66	-	64-68	78-80	-	Lightning Reflexes
68	-	-	69-70	-	65-67	Literacy - Basic
69	67-68	88	71	81	68	Pariah
70-71	69-70	-	72-73	82-84	69-70	Planetary Astronomy
72-73	71	-	74	-	71-72	Planetary Cartography
74-75	72-73	89-93	75-76	85-86	73-77	Psychic Resistance
76-77	74-75	-	77-80	-	78-79	Quickload
78-80	76-78	-	81	87-89	80	Ride – player's choice
81	79-80	-	82	90	-	Sixth Sense
82-84	81-83	94	83-85	91-92	81-83	Speak Additional Dialect - player's choice
85-86	84	-	86	-	84-85	Speak Alien Language - player's choice
87-89	85-87	95	87-90	93	86-90	Storytelling
90-91	88-89	-	91-92	-	91-92	Strike to Stun
92-94	90-92	96-98	93-95	94-96	93-95	Swim
95-96	93-95	99	96-97	-	96-97	Tailor
97	96-97	00	98	97-98	98	Untouchable
98	98	-	99	99-00	-	Wyrd
99-00	99-00	-	00	-	99-00	Xenology

Scholar Abilities Table

Human	Mutant	Ogryn	Ratling	Beastman	Squat	Ability
01-02	01-02	-	01-05	-	01-02	Acute Hearing
03-05	03-05	-	06-08	-	03-05	Ambidextrous
06	06	-	09-11	-	06	Animal Care
07-09	07-09	-	12-14	-	07-08	Arcane Language - High Imperial Gothic
10-11	10-11	-	15-16	-	09-10	Art
12-13	12-13	-	17-18	-	11-13	Combat Master
14-18	14-18	-	19-23	-	14-18	Cook
19-21	19-21	-	24-26	-	19-20	Dance or Sing – player’s choice
22-23	22-23	-	27-28	-	21-23	Disarm
24-25	24	-	29	-	24-28	Driver – player's choice
26-28	25-27	-	30-31	-	29-30	Etiquette
29-30	28-29	-	32-36	-	31-32	Excellent Vision
31-32	30-31	-	37-38	-	33-35	Feint
33-35	32-36	-	39-40	-	36	Flee
36-37	37-38	-	41-42	-	-	Fleet of Foot
38-39	39-40	-	43-44	-	37-41	Heraldry
40-41	41-42	-	45-46	-	42-46	History
42-43	43-44	-	47-49	-	47-48	Identify Plant
44-45	45-46	-	50-51	-	49-50	Law
46-47	47-48	-	52-56	-	-	Lightning Reflexes
48-52	49-53	-	57-61	-	51-55	Musicianship - player's choice
53-54	54-55	-	62-63	-	56-58	Numismatics
55	56-57	-	64	-	59	Pariah
56-57	58-59	-	65-66	-	60-62	Parry
58-59	60-61	-	67	-	63-64	Pilot - Atmospheric
60-61	62-63	-	68-69	-	65	Planetary Astronomy
62-63	64	-	70	-	66	Planetary Cartography
64-65	65-66	-	71-72	-	67-71	Psychic Resistance
66-67	-	-	73-74	-	72-73	Public Speaking
68-72	67-69	-	75	-	74	Ride - player's choice
73	70-71	-	76	-	-	Sixth Sense
74-78	72-76	-	77-79	-	75-77	Speak Additional Dialect - player's choice
79	77	-	80	-	78	Speak Alien Language - player's choice
80-81	78-79	-	81-82	-	79-81	Step Aside
82-84	80-82	-	83-85	-	82-84	Stewardship
85-87	83-85	-	86-89	-	85-89	Storytelling
88-89	86-88	-	90-91	-	90-92	Super Numerate
90-92	89-91	-	92-94	-	93-95	Swim
93-94	92-93	-	95-96	-	96	Theology
95	94-95	-	97	-	97	Untouchable
96	96	-	98	-	98	Wit
97	97	-	99	-	-	Wyrd
98-00	98-00	-	00	-	99-00	Xenology

Citizen Abilities Table

Human	Mutant	Ogryn	Ratling	Beastman	Squat	Ability
01-02	01-02	01-02	01-05	01-03	01-02	Acute Hearing
03-05	03-05	03-05	06-08	04-06	03-05	Ambidextrous
06	06	06-10	09-10	07-11	06	Animal Care
07-08	07	-	11-12	-	07-08	Blather
09-11	08-10	11-12	13-14	12-14	09-11	Brewing
12-13	11-13	-	15-16	15-16	12-14	Carpentry
14-15	14	-	17-18	-	15-16	Charm
16-17	15-17	13-15	19-20	17-18	17-19	Construction
18-20	18-20	16-25	21-23	19-21	20-22	Consume Alcohol
21-25	21-25	26-27	24-28	22-24	23-27	Cook
26-28	26-28	28	29-30	25-27	28-29	Dance
29-30	29	-	-	-	30-34	Driver – player's choice
31	30	-	31-32	-	35	Embezzle
32-33	-	-	33	-	36-37	Etiquette
34-35	31-32	-	34-35	28	38-40	Evaluate
36-37	33-34	29-30	36-40	29-31	41-42	Excellent Vision
38-39	35-36	31-32	41-42	32-34	43-44	Fish
40-42	37-41	-	43-44	35-39	45	Flee
43-44	42-43	33-42	45-46	40-44	-	Fleet of Foot
45-46	44-45	-	47-49	-	46-48	Gamble
47-49	46-48	-	50-52	-	49-53	Haggle
50-51	49-50	43-44	53-54	45-49	54-55	Huntsman
52	51-52	45	55-56	50-54	56-57	Identify Plant
53	53	46	57	55	58-59	Leader
54-55	54-55	-	58-62	56-58	-	Lightning Reflexes
56	-	-	63	-	60	Literacy - Basic
57-58	56-57	-	64	-	61-62	Mimic
59-60	58-59	47	65-66	59-61	63-65	Musicianship - player's choice
61	60-61	48	67	62	66	Pariah
62-63	62-63	49-53	68-69	63-64	67-71	Psychic Resistance
64-65	64-65	-	70	-	72-73	Public Speaking
-	-	-	71	65-69	-	Ride - player's choice
66-68	66-70	54-55	72-74	-	74-76	Secret Language - Street
69-70	-	-	75-76	70-71	77	Seduction
71-72	71-72	56	77-78	72-73	78-79	Sing
73	73-74	-	79	74	-	Sixth Sense
74-75	-	-	80-83	75	80-81	Stewardship
76-77	75-76	57	84-87	76	82-86	Storytelling
78-79	77-78	58-59	88-91	77-78	87-88	Swim
80	79-80	60	92	79-80	89	Untouchable
81-82	81-82	-	93	81-82	90-91	Ventriloquism
83-90	83-90	61-80	-	83-90	92-95	Very Resilient
91-98	91-98	81-00	-	91-98	96-99	Very Strong
99	99	-	94-99	-	00	Wit
00	00	-	00	99-00	-	Wyrd

Age:

At this point, the player should decide on the character’s age, bearing in mind his career, characteristic levels and abilities.

Optional Rule – Random Character Age

If you want to randomly generate a character’s age, here’s an idea borrowed from Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.

Roll either 6D6 or 6D10. If the total is below 16, roll again, adding the first score to the second. If, by some perversion of probabilities, this still isn’t at least 16, add this to the first score as well. Of course, if you don’t mind having a debilitatingly young character, don’t bother rolling again.

The 6D6 method will give a young character (about 21), while the 6D10 method gives an older character (about 33), and should be appropriate for most abhuman sub-species. The exceptions are ratlings (who have shorter life spans due to their high metabolism, only rolling five dice) and Squat (who have a longer life span, and so roll eight dice).

These suggestions are geared towards characters living a natural lifespan, as described in the Extremes Of Character Age optional rule, below.

Optional Rule – Extremes Of Character Age

The rules as they stand assume that all characters are of optimum age for their sub-species. In most cases, this is around 16-35 years old. However, there is no reason why players shouldn’t be able to roleplay characters younger or older than the ‘adult in his/her prime’ norm. However, age will have effects on characteristics and abilities, not to mention how NPCs will react to them.

No compulsory rules have been included to represent the effects of age, because there are actually a wide variety of age ranges in the Imperium, even amongst normal humans. Space Marines, tech-priests, Inquisitors and other citizens with access to the various rare and expensive anti-aging treatments can live for centuries without becoming decrepit or senile. Meanwhile, the typical Imperial citizen will have an average lifespan of fifty years or perhaps lower, with variation depending on culture and environment.

Any player with a character concept requiring an unusual age can opt use the following guidelines, with the agreement of the GM. The young character rules should work for anyone, although the age ranges for old characters may need adjusting for characters in high-ranking careers or living a comfortable lifestyle.

Young Characters

For every full year below the age of 16, the character suffers –5 WS, BS, Strength and Toughness. However, the character also gets 1 free advance each year for these characteristics, which occurs automatically, without Experience points needing to be spent.

For every full year below the age of 16, the character also suffers a –1 penalty to the number of randomly determined abilities he would normally be entitled to (see below). If this reduces the number of random abilities to below zero, the character loses abilities from his or her career as well. Abilities lost from careers can be regained at a later date, using experience points (see Experience and Advancement).

Old Characters

For every full ten years above the age of 50, the character suffers –5 WS, BS, Strength, Toughness and Initiative.

For every full ten years above the age of 50, the character must also pass a Sagacity test or suffer a –1 penalty to the D6 randomly determined abilities he would normally be entitled to (see below). If this reduces the number of random abilities to below zero, the character loses abilities from his or her career as well. Abilities lost from careers can be regained at a later date, using experience points (see Experience and Advancement).

It is possible that particularly elderly characters may have some kind of physical or mental disorder, such as heart problems or absent-mindedness.

Free Advance:

There is something that sets a PC apart from the common herd of humanity, some ability they possess that few others in their position have, an edge that can see them through situations that would leave another man dead. To represent this, a newly-generated PC is allowed an immediate advance on his characteristics, chosen from those normally available to his career. This advance does not cost any experience points (largely because the character doesn’t have any).

Handedness:

This may seem a very minor detail, but there are penalties when using the off-hand (usually –20) in combat, shooting and various other activities. State whether the PC is left or right handed. (If the PC has the Ambidextrous ability, skip this step.)

Psychic Powers:

Characters who gain the Psyker or Shaman ability at initial generation possess one psychic power from each discipline that they have mastered, plus one for every full ten points of Willpower above 50, which may be taken from any other discipline.

For example, a character with Wp 62 and the Shaman – Telekinesis ability could take two powers from the Telekinesis discipline.

A more powerful character with Wp 84 and both Shaman – Telekinesis and Shaman – Pyromancy could take one Telekinesis power, one Pyromancy power and a total of three more powers from either discipline.

Other than the restrictions on disciplines, powers may be chosen freely, although the GM may veto any that he believes to be too powerful or inappropriate for your PC.

Money:

In addition to any career-based equipment, PCs will have an amount of money to call their own. The common Imperial currency is the sestertius (plural = sestertii), which is divided into 100 denarii (singular = denarius). Many planets illegally mint their own, or give it a more locally popular name (crown, currency unit, people’s credit, and so on), while the interplanetary Merchants’ Guild uses an electronic credit system. All local currencies are required, by Imperial Law, to tie their exchange rate 1:1 to the Imperial sestertius, and Imperial coinage can be used on any Imperial world. In effect, the Imperium has a single currency.

The amount of money a character starts out with depends on his career class:

Military: 20 + 4D10 sestertii

Freelancer: 6D10 sestertii

Scholar: 20 + 6D10 sestertii

Citizen: 10 + 2D10 sestertii

Some of the better-paid basic careers specify an amount of money on their equipment list. This is a bonus that is taken in addition to the default amount stated above.

It is assumed that every character has either a purse/wallet in which money is stored, or some form of electronic credit system. Depending on the format of a PC’s wealth, compatibility may become an issue during adventures. For example, a character visiting a medieval world is going to have to look very hard to find anyone with a Merchants’ Guild credit reader, while an extremely wealthy PC will have to either carry around lots of heavy currency or place money in one of the Merchants’ Guild’s banks.

Additional Equipment:

The PC is allowed to spend any of their funds immediately, choosing any Common equipment from the Price Charts. PCs may not buy additional weapons, ammunition or armour during the character generation stage – adventures spring upon most PCs as a surprise. If a character wouldn’t normally have a weapon, then he will have to find one when he gets caught up to his neck in trouble, with Chaos cultists or hostile gangers charging at him from all directions.

PCs may (at the GM’s discretion, bearing in mind the relationships between PCs) borrow money off one another in order to pay for expensive items, but may not sell any career-based equipment in order to raise funds. Career equipment is vital for the earning of a salary, and in the case of Military careers, it isn’t the character’s to give away.

Fate Points:

PCs are lucky, very, very lucky. The Emperor watches over them, one might say.

That’s why he managed to grab onto that branch when the Orks threw him over the cliff. It’s why he was the only one to survive the shuttle crash, even if he did have to eat the dead to avoid starvation. It’s why the commissar’s bolt pistol jammed when he tried to execute him. It’s why that chunk of falling masonry knocked him out of the way of the Bloodthirster’s axe.

This extraordinarily good (if at times, painful) fortune is represented by the allocation to the character of a number of Fate points. These can be used to tweak things just enough for the character to survive an otherwise fatal (or crippling) injury. The actual consequences of spending a Fate point is left up to the GM, but it should always leave at least a reasonable possibility of survival. A PC may be unconscious and slung underneath a pole, being carried towards a giant cooking pot by a pair of kroot, but at least he’s alive. Maybe his comrades will arrive to rescue him, or a rampaging wild beast will interrupt the banquet, giving him the chance to regain consciousness and escape.

It is incredibly difficult to gain new Fate points. In fact, the only way to do so is to perform some exceptionally heroic deed. Maybe thwarting the machinations of a Chaos power, or preventing an alien invasion, or tracking down a zealot planning to release toxins into a hive city’s water supply. Merely killing a couple of bandits and recovering a tractor-load of turnips does not qualify for a Fate point reward.

The number of Fate points that characters get is related to their species. Humans are in the ascendant throughout the galaxy, so pure human characters begin their lives with D3+1 Fate points. Mutants and abhumans are not quite as favoured by the Emperor, and so only have D3 Fate points.

Note that Chaotic and heretical characters may still get Fate points. The inclusion of the Emperor in this section is just the writer’s way of explaining away the ‘extra lives’ that Fate points give a PC.

Aliens may also not enjoy the benevolent attentions of the Emperor of Mankind, but have their own causes for which they fight, and which will protect them. Alien PCs (if and when rules for them are written) will have either more or fewer Fate points than this. Should a GM decide to come up with his own rules for alien PCs, D3 is a good number to assign to them.

Optional Rule – Secret Fate Points:

To prevent the players from becoming complacent and acting unrealistically – ‘Oh, I’ll leap this ravine because I’ve got a Fate point to spend if I fail,’ – the GM can always roll up Fate points for each PC, and not tell them how many they have.

If he’s feeling really sneaky, he can always not tell them when they lose Fate points as well. For example, if the GM rolls a fatal crippling injury for a PC, he tells the PC (poker-faced, of course) that they’ve taken a lesser injury, and subtly ticks off one Fate point. Then wait to see the look on the PC’s face when he fails to get all the way across the ravine…

Optional Rule – Fate Points? What Fate Points?

If you fancy cranking up the lethality of Imperium, the easiest way to do this is to abandon the Fate point system entirely. If a character is killed or seriously injured, then that’s it. No second chances, no miraculous escapes.

As with all optional rules, the GM should ensure that the players are aware that Fate points are being disallowed.

Sample Character: Velspere Colsen

Let’s take another look at Velspere Colsen, and what he does for a living.

His Ballistic Skill is too low for him to join the military, although he could become a freelancer, thanks to his Weapon Skill of 52. However, he has at least 50 points in both Willpower and Sagacity, so he opts to become a Scholar.

Rolling on the Scholar Careers table comes up with Inquisition – Explicator. Velspere pledges allegiance to the Emperor, puts on his robes and enters the Holy Orders of Emperor’s Inquisitors.

	WS	BS	S	T	I	Wp	Sg	Nv	Ld
Explicator Colsen	52	48	52	50	53	57	51	49	54

Height: 6’ Speaks: Low Imperial Gothic Alignment: Imperial Conservative

Age: 23 Handedness: Right Fate Points: 2

Abilities:

Arcane Language – High Imperial Gothic, Cryptography, Daemon Lore, Interrogate, Intimidate, Law, Literacy – Advanced, Numismatics, Psychic Resistance, Secret Language – Inquisition, Secret Signs – Inquisition, Specialist Weapon – Fist, Strike to Stun, Torture, Use Cogitator

Equipment:

Stubber with two clips of 15 Limax bullets

Knife

Torture equipment, including scalpels and pincers that can be used as improvised weapons

Hooded black robes

61 sestertii in coins

   When generating abilities, Velspere only managed to get one of the optional ones for his career (Psychic Resistance), and only received one randomly generated Scholar ability as well (Numismatics). Possibly he specialises in tracking down heretics by their financial trail.

   For equipment, he is given the option of any civilian or military pistol or basic weapon. Rather than go for something exotic like a shuriken catapult, or something powerful like a bolt pistol, Velspere chooses a more reliable stubber. He starts out with a reasonable amount of ammunition, and Limax ammunition is easy to get hold of, should he run out while on an investigation.

   Because Velspere is just starting out in his adventuring career, and has only spent a few years with the Inquisition, his player decides that Velspere is 23 years old. He has several centuries of preserving the Imperium ahead of him, assuming he survives that long.

   To assist in his interrogations, Velspere’s player takes a free Willpower advance from the Explicator career, increasing it from 51 to 57, and decides that Velspere is right-handed.

   Velspere has a respectable amount of money, but opts not to spend it until he knows more about the circumstances of his first investigation. Anyway, this is just his personal spending money – his mentor Inquisitor will have access to the almost infinite funds of the Imperial Inquisition.

   Velspere only has two Fate points, so he better watch himself.

Last, But Not Least:

The PC is now complete, as far as characteristics, abilities and equipment go, but there’s something missing. It’s the most important part of any roleplaying character. It’s the character.

Here’s a few questions players might want to ask themselves when determining who exactly their characters are:

What kind of personality does the character have, and why?

How devout is he/she?

And to which religion or sect? (Hint: the only legal religion in the Imperium is the Imperial Cult, but there are various legal sub-cults, as well as numerous illegal ones.)

Why has the character become an adventurer? Was it by choice, or through circumstances? Is the character even an adventurer at the start of the game?

What about the character’s family? Are any still alive, estranged, missing, in prison?

Are his parents alive? If so, what do they do for a living?

How about brothers or sisters?

Is the character married?

Does he or she have children?

Where is the character’s family at the moment? Are they back at home, on the adventure, or is one of the other PCs a relative?

And what about the character’s career? Was taking it up a deliberate choice, or merely something they do to avoid starvation? Are they any good at their job, or are they incompetent?

Are they leaving their job to become an adventurer? If so, why?

How does the character feel about authority figures, particularly the planetary government, the Imperium and the Ecclesiarchy?

Will the character accept orders from an authority figure?

Will the character expect others to obey their orders?

What advanced career is the character working towards, and how does this affect the character’s personality?

Most importantly, what’s to stop the character saying, ‘Screw this,’ and going back to bed instead of going on an adventure?

The answers should round out the PC and their motivations, and make you feel you really know them. Feel free to ask and answer questions of a more probing nature, should they occur to you.

Once that’s sorted, you should come up with a name and physical description for your character.

Optional Rule – Points Based Character Generation:

Sometimes a player will have a well-defined character concept they wish to play in Imperium, for example, a Merchants’ Guilder who specialises in works of art. The random generation system already described, although capable of producing reasonably balanced characters, does not allow for the customisation of characters in such ways.

An alternative method is to allow players (not necessarily the entire group), to use a points-based system to generate characters. This is not recommended for groups made up of beginners – they should really use random generation, unless they are really opposed to that.

Be aware that a points-based system is open to abuse by power gamers, and the GM should oversee every step, approve every detail, before allowing it into a game. It is also possible to come up with an unlikely character for the 41^st Millennium. Again, the GM should adjudicate on any questionable traits.

1. Select Sub-Species

This is performed as under the random generation system, and all sub-species special rules apply.

2. Shuffle Characteristics

Each character starts off with the basic statline of its species. For a human, this would be 50 for each characteristic. The player can now shuffle points from one characteristic to another until a preferred statline is achieved. For example, to create a character more geared to knife-fighting than marksmanship, WS could be increased to 60, and Strength to 55, but fifteen points could be taken away from BS to lower it to 35, balancing the increase.

However, there are limitations. No characteristic may be reduced to less than half of its basic score, nor may it be raised by more than one-and-a-half times. For a human, this gives a range of 25-75 on each characteristic.

When approving characteristic modifications, the GM should take into account that these scores will change over the course of an adventuring career. Some characters can become incredibly powerful, incredibly quickly. Care should particularly taken with Toughness or Initiative scores, since these can easily unbalance a game if raised too high for no good reason.

3. Careers

The player selects a Basic Career for their character. The usual characteristic requirements of each Career Class must be adhered to as normal. All abilities, equipment etc. are taken as normal.

4. Non-Career Abilities

Each character can take up to D3 additional abilities. These can be chosen from the Abilities section, rather than from the random table above. Because of this additional freedom, the GM should watch carefully for any abilities that may overbalance the game and exercise his right to veto if required. The lower number of additional abilities is due to the character not having to risk duplicate rolls.

5. Complete Character Generation

The Free Advance, Handedness, Psychic Powers, Money, Additional Equipment and Fate Points sections are completed normally.

If a character concept requires equipment not normally given under the Basic Career, and is out of the price range of a starting character, the GM may allow a character to have additional equipment, provided it can a) be justified, and b) does not unbalance the game too much. For example, an Imperial Guard trooper who has been through several campaigns may sport several bionic parts. In this case, these should be of average quality at best, to avoid giving an unfair advantage to the PC.